Social Commerce Strategy: 10 Tactics to Increase Sales

Ecommerce revenue growth is projected to be 5% higher in 2023 than pre-pandemic. Brands use this opportunity to increase their investment in social commerce. A business should consider using social media platforms when developing a social commerce strategy. Follow these ten best practices that can improve your social selling efforts. 

1. Understand your customers 

To create a successful social commerce strategy, retailers must first understand that it’s not about them. It’s about the customer. Start by identifying your target customers and their preferences. Use social media analytics to gain insights into their behavior, interests, and shopping habits. This will ensure you invest in the right platforms to connect with them.

2. Create highly engaging content

Engaging, relevant, and high-quality content can correlate to higher sales. Sprout Social data shows that 57% of consumers will increase their spending with a brand they feel connected to. There are many ways to create unique content that helps buyers feel more connected with your brand. Engage with them by responding to comments, asking for feedback, and sharing user-generated content.

3. Make your content customer-focused

Whether it’s a Facebook shop, Instagram shop, or TikTok shop, publishing audience-focused content is the number one key to selling on social media. For example, if you’re a service-focused business, publish contents that help the audience solve their problems. Meanwhile, consumer brands should publish contents that their target customers enjoy. 

4. Leverage user-generated content (UGC)

Encourage your followers to create and share content about your brand. Your social commerce strategy will be more effective when you leverage social proof. This commonly includes customer reviews and encouraging customers to post photos of the product purchase. Sometimes users post videos of themselves unboxing or using your product and tagging your company.

5. Collaborate with micro-influencers 

The following technique involves developing partnerships with popular influencers in your niche. This could broaden your reach, popularize the brand, and cultivate credibility with that influencer’s audience. However, instead of looking for the personalities with the most followers, go for the most relevant influencers with the most engaged followers. They are also known as micro-influencers.

To create more engaging content, brands must collaborate with influencers to co-create content that truly reflects their unique audience’s interests. In addition, you should ensure that the content is educational or entertaining to influence the audience’s purchase decisions.

6. Leverage live streaming

Livestream is an effective way to combine the interactivity of in-person shopping with the power of ecommerce. You can host live Q&As, product launches, or tutorials. Then, use the opportunity to answer customer questions in real time. This strategy helps removes barriers to purchase while creating personalized relationships. Always use product hashtags directly in your live broadcasts to let your audience purchase products on the spot.

The screenshot above shows Birchbox’s popular live stream. Birchbox, a cosmetic subscription box company, did a Facebook Live tutorial video where a rep from Benefit Cosmetics put its new BADgal mascara on the eyelashes of Birchbox’s host.

7. Optimize for social search

Brands that want to win in the social commerce space must master the basics of social search optimization. It starts with your content strategy. Focus on creating relevant content that will resonate with your target audience. If the content is good, it’s much more likely to perform well. The following social commerce SEO fundamentals are worth considering:

• Optimize your social media profiles
• Make it easy to navigate
• Write a clear and compelling bio
• Include an on-brand profile photo
• Geotag your posts
• Make sure your location is accessible for local search
• Use alt text on your creative assets

These simple steps can help make your social commerce content more visible and engaging.

8. Cultivate trust

Cultivating trust is essential for any social commerce strategy to be successful. Shoppers are worried that their purchases won’t be protected or refunded. They’re also concerned about the quality and authenticity of products sold via social commerce channels and fear sharing their financial data with social networks.

 “Customers have lots of choices. And trust is an important part of that choice,” says Dutta Satadip, Chief Customer Officer at ActiveCampaign. Social media is a two-way street. Be responsive to customer inquiries, complaints, and feedback. Use social media as an opportunity to provide excellent customer service.

9. Use AI chatbots to close more sales 

Automated social shopping bots can add conversational prompts that help move your followers through the customer journey. They also allow you to close sales 24/7 while reducing cart abandonment. Aside from that, here’s how using AI chatbots can help you close more deals:

• AI chatbots can provide personalized product recommendations based on the user’s browsing history.
• Provide efficient customer support by handling repetitive tasks like answering frequently asked questions, resolving simple issues, and helping customers complete purchases. 
• AI chatbots can help reduce costs associated with hiring and training additional customer support staff.
• AI chatbot-generated data from customer interactions can be used to optimize your sales strategy and improve customer engagement.

10. Create shorter paths to purchase

In social commerce, convenience is king! That’s why you should develop an end-to-end buying process across all channels.s And this should be done with as few steps as possible. You’ll need a seamless cross-channel social commerce approach that integrates your online and in-store experiences. In addition, it should connect with and convert social media browsers into customers. The overall process must be based on customer data and insights.

Conclusion

As social media continues to evolve, it will create more brand opportunities to provide convenience to shoppers. Social commerce allows brands to develop seamless shopping experiences and reach consumers in the places that matter. Established channels, such as Instagram and Facebook, are good places when starting with social commerce. But to succeed, marketers must have a clear strategy to connect with their target audience. These tactics will help you grow our social shopping platform when applied effectively.